NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill book Father to Son Important Question Answers Poem 5
Class 11 English Father to Son Question Answers – Looking for Father to Son question answers (NCERT solutions) for CBSE Class 11 English Hornbill Book Poem 5? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 11 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Our solutions provide a clear idea of how to write the answers effectively. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Poem 5: Father to Son now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract based questions, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and long answer questions.
Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams.
Class 11 English Father to Son Question Answers Poem 5 – Extract Based Questions
Extract-based questions are of the multiple-choice variety, and students must select the correct option for each question by carefully reading the passage.
A. I do not understand this child
Though we have lived together now
In the same house for years. I know
Nothing of him, so try to build
Up a relationship from how
He was when small.
Q1. Who has lived in the same house? How long?
Ans. The father and son had shared the same home for a long time.
Q2. Why does the father say that he knows nothing of him?
Ans. They coexist in the same home as strangers. While they are with each other, there is complete silence all around them. He claims to know nothing about his son as a result.
Q3. What kind of relationship does he want to build up?
Ans. He hopes to have a bond with his son that is similar to the one he had with his son when he himself was younger.
B. Yet have I killed
The seed I spent or sown it where
The land is his and none of mine?
We speak like strangers, there’s no sign
Of understanding in the air.
Q1. What does the word ‘seed’ signify?
Ans. The father’s labor-intensive efforts to raise the child are referred to as the “seed” here in this context.
Q2. What ‘land’ does the speaker speak of?
Ans. The father attempted to plant the seeds of his thoughts in the child’s mind.
Q3. Why do they speak like strangers?
Ans. People speak strangely because they have various outlooks and ways of thinking.
C. This child is built to my design
Yet what he loves I cannot share.
Silence surrounds us.
I would have him prodigal, returning to
His father’s house, the home he knew,
Rather than see him make and move
His world. I would forgive him too,
Shaping from sorrow a new love.
Q1. What kind of child had he desired to design?
Ans. He had hoped to create a child that shared his preferences.
Q2. Why does the speaker say ‘this child’ not ‘my child’?
Ans. The speaker says ‘this child’ not ‘my child’ since they don’t share anything in common.
Q3. Explain: ‘Silence surrounds us’.
Ans. The father and son have almost no communication. When they are near each other, there is complete silence.
Q4. What does the father want his son to do?
Ans. He desires that his son visit his father again.
Q5. What is the father prepared to accept?
Ans. He is willing to accept his kid in all of his affluence.
Q6. What does the father not want his son to do?
Ans. The father does not want his son to create and settle in a new world of his own.
Q7. What would the father do to shape a new love from sorrow?
Ans. He would absolve his son of any suffering he may have caused.
D. Father and son, we both must live
On the same globe and the same land.
He speaks: I cannot understand
Myself, why anger grows from grief.
We each put out an empty hand,
Q1. How does the poet feel when his relationship with his son comes under strain?
Ans. The poet is anxious to maintain the family links with his son. He desires that the son returns to his former home.
Q2. What could be the cause for their distancing from each other?
Ans. The growing gulf between the father and his son is due to a lack of understanding. Each is in need of the other, yet due to ego issues, they split apart.
Q3. What do both father and son long for?
Ans. They yearn for a reason to pardon one another.
Q4. What do the words ‘an empty hand’ signify?
Ans. The phrase “an empty hand” refers to the fact that neither the father nor the son have benefited from their current condition of separation. Both of them are empty handed.
Q5. What can’t the father understand?
Ans. The father is perplexed as to why his grief makes him angry.
Q6. Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme?
Ans. Yes, the rhyme scheme in each stanza is abbaba.
Class 11 English Hornbill Father to Son Poem 5 Multiple Choice Questions
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are a type of objective assessment in which a person is asked to choose one or more correct answers from a list of available options. An MCQ presents a question along with several possible answers.
Q1. Why was the father ready to forgive him?
A. to let go of all the sorrows he had inside
B. to become a nicer person
C. to teach his son a value lesson
D. to help his son
Ans- A. to let go of all the sorrows he had inside
Q2. Does the father want his son to move around in his own world?
A. Yes
B. Not at all
C. Maybe
D. None of the above
Ans- B. Not at all
Q3. What happened when he tried to build a relationship with him in his childhood?
A. he was successful
B. his efforts were in vain
C. not certain
D. None of the above
Ans- B. his efforts were in vain
Q4. What happens when they both put out an empty hand for the others to seek?
A. efforts are always in vain
B. they got successful in the end
C. father wasn’t interested
D. they never had a chance to talk
Ans- A. efforts are always in vain
Q5. What does the son share about him understanding himself?
A. he is at a point where he doesn’t understand himself
B. he understands the child so well
C. he doesn’t want to think about it
D. he is very busy to overthink
Ans- A. he is at a point where he doesn’t understand himself
Q6. Why was the father ready to forgive him?
A. to let go of all the sorrows he had inside
B. to be a bigger person
C. to guide the child
D. to support his child
Ans- A. to let go of all the sorrows he had inside
Q7. Since his son was prodigal, why does he want him to come back home?
A. to make amends with him
B. to teach him about relations
C. to lend him some money
D. None of the above
Ans- A. to make amends with him
Q8. What is the meaning of the word ‘Prodigal’ used in the third stanza?
A. understanding the son
B. someone who is clever
C. spending money lavishly
D. someone who doesn’t spend money lavishly
Ans- C. spending money freely
Q9. Despite all his efforts to fix the communication gap, was the son able to understand him?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Can’t say
D, Maybe
Ans- B. No
Q10. Does the father know about his son’s likes and dislikes?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe
D. Can’t say
Ans- B. No
Q11. Father tells him that although they have lived in the same house for years, he __
A. envies him
B. adores the child
C. doesn’t understand him
D. finds him clever
Ans- C. doesn’t understand him
Q12. What is the poem ‘Father to Son’ about?
A. Unsettling relationship between father and son
B. father’s old age
C. son comparing himself to his father
D. father talking to son about his own childhood
Ans- A. Unsettling relationship between father and son
Q13. From where does the son’s anger arise ?
A. out of his character
B. out of his sadness
C. out of his own father’s attitude
D. out of his childhood memories
Ans- B. out of his sadness
Q14. When the son spoke for the first time, did he also feel sad about the distance between them?
A. Yes, he did
B. No, he did not felt anything
C. Maybe in his heart
D. He never thought about it
Ans- A. Yes, he did
Q15. Does the father want his son to move around in his own world?
A. Yes
B. Not at all
C. Maybe
D. None of the above
Ans- B. Not at all
Q16. Is there a silence between the father and the son?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Can’t say
D. Maybe
Ans- A. Yes
Q17. “What is the meaning of ‘This child is built to my design Yet what he loves I cannot share’?”
A. father and son look alike and they share everything with each other
B. His son looks like him yet they don’t have anything to share
C. his son looks different
D. neither does his son looks like him nor does he understand him
Ans- B. His son looks like him yet they don’t have anything to share
Q18. Why does the father use ‘I’ in a line ‘The seed I spent or sown it where ‘ where he was talking about communication gap?
A. to acknowledge his role in the communication gap
B. to enlighten himself
C. to let his son know his own importance
D. to make the child understand about himself
Ans- A. to acknowledge his role in the communication gap
Q19. What happened when he tried to build a relationship with him in his childhood?
A. he was productive
B. his efforts were in vain
C. he was half-way effective
D. None of the above
Ans- B. his efforts were in vain
Q20. How old is the son when his father rants about his agony to his son?
A. teenager
B. grown-up
C. child
D. infant
Ans- B. grown-up
Class 11 English Father to Son Question Answers (including questions from Previous Years Question Papers)
In this post we are also providing important short answer questions from the Poem 5 Father to Son for CBSE Class 11 exams for the coming session.
Q1. Why is the father unable to understand his son in ‘Father to Son’?
Ans. Due to miscommunication and the generational divide, the father in the poem “Father to Son” cannot understand his son. Though he and his son lived together in the same house but they did not share any love or interests, therefore, he does not understand him.
Q2. Why is the father unhappy with his son?
Ans. Even though they share a home, the father is upset with his son since they never connect. They coexist like strangers and cannot understand one another. They even have no common interests.
Q3. ‘I would have him prodigal.’ What does the father in Elizabeth Jennings’ poem mean by this?
Ans. Just as the prodigal son did in the biblical tale, the father desires for his son to come back to him. The son was an idler and wastrel. He moved away from home. But every time he came back after a long absence, the father would rejoice.
Q4. What does the father feel about this stranger-like relationship with his son? Does he wish to change it?
Ans. This strange-like relationship bothers the father. Naturally, he wants to change it since he is willing to accept his prodigal son. He is thrilled to begin sharing a home with him.
Q5. The anguish of the father comes through very strongly in the poem. Show his feelings about his son as expressed in the poem.
Ans. The father is more confused and upset. He regrets having missed out on chances to develop a bond with his son. In order to keep his prodigal son in the same home where they all live with love and respect, he wants to establish excellent relations with him.
Q6. What kind of relationship do the father and the son share? Why is it so?
Ans. The father and son have an estranged relationship. Despite living under the same roof, they behave as strangers. Their interests are completely unrelated. What his son enjoys, the father keeps to himself. Because there is a communication gap between the two, there is no understanding.
Q7. Why does the father feel he and his son are like strangers to each other?
Ans. Due to the lack of engagement between the father and son, the father feels as though they are like strangers to one another. They do not even have a shared interest because there is no affection, warmth, or understanding between them. Despite years of living together, there is a communication gap between them.
Class 11 Father to Son Long Answer Questions Poem 5
1. The lesson reflects the realities of modern times. The aged persons face problems and there is no end to it. How do you feel about it?
Ans. The breakdown of the united family system and the shift in our cultural values have caused grave issues for the elderly. Due to their children’s involvement in their own problems, they are denied support on a physical, moral, financial, and emotional level. The elderly are experiencing a sense of unwanted presence. Hatred, disdain, apathy, and insults are the predominant attitudes towards the elderly. This causes them to fall into a bottomless pit of depression. The worst victims are, by far, elderly people without a source of income. The biggest offender is an increase in materialism. No longer is blood thicker than water. An elderly individual who stands in the way of the heirs receiving their inheritance becomes a pain in their side. Many begin killing the elderly by torturing them.
The only things that the elderly need are love, kindness, and respect. So, the kids must adopt a new mentality. They must not ignore the very thing that gives them life.
2. What sort of father-son relationship has been depicted in the poem ‘Father to Son?
Ans. The poem portrays a father-son relationship that is merely symbolic. The two had shared a home together for many years. Even then the father does not understand his son. He acknowledges that he has no knowledge about his son. They no longer share an affectionate connection. They have become formal just like strangers. Although the son looks physically similar to his father, he always had his own vision, dreams, and aspirations. He is not confined to his home and is not averse to travelling. The protective father is willing to forgive him for incurring loss of material wealth provided he returns home. The father feels completely helpless, furious, and distraught as a result of the awful experience of being unable to communicate. His attempts to mend the relationship fall short as there is no response from the other side.
3. How far has the poet succeeded in transforming a purely personal matter to a universal experience prevalent in modern times?
Ans. The poem opens with a tone of autobiography. The father, who is speaking, describes his own experience. He discusses the dysfunctional father-son bond. The father has no knowledge of his son and neither does he understand him. Even though they share a home, the father and son’s distance has widened. They are unable to communicate with one another. Either they converse like strangers or there is quiet all around them. The son’s preferences are a secret to the father. The distance has grown too far, which is regrettable. Even so, the father is eager to create a new bond and mould a new love. His anguish manifests as rage, and they are unable to come to a settlement. This relationship maladjustment or increasing family separation is typical of today’s materialistic age.
4. Why in your view has a sense of distance arrived in the modern youth?
Ans. All the traditional moral, ethical, social, and cultural values have been lost in the modern age. The strong feeling of a single family structure is significantly fading. The newlyweds desire to live a life of independence away from their parents. They believe that their freedom will be restricted by the combined family or parents who live with them.
They are unable to recognise their parents’ true value and yearn for a greater separation from them. The western society and the media have enveloped their ideas. They have absolutely no interest in civility. Thus, among young people, distance is deeply ingrained.They do not understand the responsibilities they have for their elderly parents and instead view them as an additional burden. Thus, among today’s youth, a sense of distance has become fashionable.
5. What is the central idea of the poem “Father to Son”?
Ans. The poem centres on the tension between a father and son who have major communication gaps. Despite sharing a house , they are like strangers to one another. This is what the father muses over, and it serves as the poem’s focal point. He thinks of himself in terms of farming, feeling as though he has planted his seed on someone else’s property, which prevents him from owning it. He acknowledges that he is unable to share his son’s interests with him and anticipates that he will return home like the lost son in the tale of Jesus in the Bible. He is prepared to provide forgiveness to him and create new love out of grief. However, his son acknowledges the futile efforts made by both parties to understand one another and feels anger developing from sadness.
Also See:
- Father to Son Explanation, Summary
- Father to Son MCQ Question Answers
- Class 11 English Question Answers
- Class 11 English Lesson Explanation
- Class 11 English Hornbill Book Poem word meaning